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One of the most bizarre cases in recent North Texas history involves two men who aimed to violently overthrow an island nation. Indictments for Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, of Allen, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, of Argyle, were announced by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas on Thursday.
The court documents read like a disturbing Elmore Leonard novel without any of the comedic relief the late novelist, responsible for crime classics Rum Punch, Fire in the Hole and Get Shorty was known for. According to authorities, the two men are charged in connection with a plot to invade an island near Haiti, murder tens of thousands of men, and then use the remaining women and children as sex slaves.
As of Friday morning, Thomas is in custody in the Collin County Jail. A rep with the Celina Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Plano confirmed that Weisenberg was also arrested, but they were unsure of which jail he had been transferred to. Weisenberg did not appear in jail records for Collin or Denton County at 10:15 a.m. on Friday. The attorney listed in court documents could not be reached for comment.
Thomas and Wesenberg allegedly plotted their crimes between August 2024 and July 2025. Their plan to overthrow the Island of Gonave, which is a part of the Republic of Haiti with a reported 87,000 people, was to begin by reaching the island on a boat.
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“The co-conspirators conducted research, reconnaissance, recruiting, planning, and sought training to effectuate their plan. It was the goal of the conspiracy to take military control of the Island of Gonave by murdering all the men on the island and capturing all the women,” the indictment states. “Upon capture, the co-conspirators intended to turn the women and children of Gonave into their sex slaves. The co-conspirators planned to purchase a sailboat to travel from the United States to Gonave for their attack. The co-conspirators planned to recruit and hire members of the District of Columbia homeless population to be part of their unlawful expeditionary force.”
Investigators were able to piece together the timeline and understand the pair’s intentions, thanks to intercepted social media messages between the two.
Authorities also allege that Thomas and Weisenberg had been researching firearms and planned to purchase military style weapons for the attack, while also actively recruiting others to join their overthrow efforts. The pair reportedly planned to enroll in various types of training to prepare, including taking lessons in Haitian Creole language and attending “firefighter school” in Rockwall. The indictment says that Thomas even enlisted in the U.S. Air Force “for the purpose of obtaining military training that would be useful in carrying out their armed coup attack.”
In February, Weisenberg traveled to Thailand, allegedly to take sailboating lessons, but authorities say he did not enroll in the classes “due to cost.” In a related count, the pair is also charged with the production of child pornography in 2024.
If convicted of the federal conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, both defendants face up to life in federal prison. If convicted of the federal production of child pornography charges, they each face between 15 and 30 years in federal prison.
